God’s Anger against Israel

¹ When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling;

he was exalted in Israel.

But he incurred guilt through Baal,

and he died.

² Now they sin more and more

and make for themselves cast images,

idols skillfully made^* from their silver,

all of them the work of craftsmen.

People say of them,

“They offer human sacrifice

and kiss the calves!”

³ Therefore they will be like the morning mist,

like the early^* dew that vanishes,

like chaff blown from a threshing floor,

like smoke through an open window.

⁴ Yet I am the LORD your God

ever since the land of Egypt;

you know no God but Me,

for there is no Savior besides Me.

⁵ I knew you in the wilderness,

in the land of drought.

⁶ When they had pasture,

they became satisfied;

when they were satisfied,

their hearts became proud,

and as a result they forgot Me.

⁷ So like a lion I will pounce on them;

like a leopard I will lurk^* by the path.

⁸ Like a bear robbed of her cubs I will attack them,

and I will tear open their chests.

There I will devour them like a lion,

like a wild beast tearing them apart.

Death and Resurrection

⁹ You are destroyed, O Israel,

because you are against Me —

against your helper.^*

¹⁰ Where is your king now

to save you in all your cities,

and the rulers to whom you said,

“Give me a king and princes”?

¹¹ So in My anger I gave you a king,

and in My wrath I took him away.

¹² The iniquity^* of Ephraim is bound up;

his sin is stored up.

¹³ Labor pains come upon him,

but he is an unwise son.

When the time arrives,

he fails to present himself at the opening of the womb.

¹⁴ I will ransom them^* from the power of Sheol;^*

I will redeem them from Death.

Where, O Death, are your plagues?

Where, O Sheol,^* is your sting?

Compassion is hidden^* from My eyes.

Judgment on Samaria

¹⁵ Although he flourishes among his brothers,

an east wind will come —

a wind from the LORD

rising up from the desert.

His fountain will fail,

and his spring will run dry.

The wind will plunder his treasury

of every precious article.

¹⁶ Samaria will bear her guilt

because she has rebelled against her God.

They will fall by the sword;

their little ones will be dashed to pieces,

and their pregnant women ripped open.